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While their playoff hopes hang by a thread, the United Township Panthers finished the regular season strongly, with a must-win over Galesburg, 40-14 , Friday night at the Soule Bowl.  The Panthers (4-5, 3-3 in Western Big 6 play, good for 3^rd place) have to hope there are openings for 4-5 teams in the 256-team field, and that their strength of schedule puts them high enough on the list of hopefuls to get in.  The pairings will be announced Saturday night.  Galesburg (1-8, 0-6) finishes last in conference play.

A muffed punt set up the Silver Streaks’ opening touchdown, but the Panthers then reeled off 40 straight points before a late Galesburg score, accounting for the final tally.  Christian Peterson threw 6 yards to Rowan Kallal to make it 7-6 late in the 1^st quarter, then in the 2^nd, UT got scores from Peterson (a 9-yard run), and Jasiah Massey (an 18-yard pass from Peterson) to go up 18-7 at the half.

Leo Sim ran 6 yards for a TD in the 3^rd quarter, then in the 4^th, Isaiah Navarrette scored from one yard out, and backup QB Jonathan Drake ran for a 19-yard TD to go up 40-7.  Peterson finished with 157 yards passing, 79 of them to Massey.  Navarrette totaled 123 rushing yards on 18 carries.

In a game filled with offensive fireworks, RB Adrian Cooper put on the biggest performance with three touchdown runs, as Moline beat Sterling 45-31 on Friday night at Browning Field, putting the Maroons in position for a possible home playoff game next weekend.  QB Eli Taylor was also a big part of the show, completing two passes of more than 50 yards each.

Moline (7-2, 5-1 in Western Big 6 play) finishes second in the WB6 race behind only unbeaten Quincy, and will wait until the official pairings are announced Saturday night to learn who and where they will play in the first round of the IHSA playoffs.  Sterling (5-4, 4-2) is also playoff-bound and finishes third in the conference.

Cooper opened the scoring with a 1-yard run midway through the 1^st quarter.  With the score 7-3, QB Eli Taylor aired it out 56 yards to Nolan Ducey to make it 14-3 just before the quarter ended.  With Moline up 14-10, Taylor connected with Elijah Warren on a 52-yard pass play to set up Cooper’s second TD from 6 yards out with 3:50 left in the half to put the Maroons up 21-10, but the 2^nd quarter scoring explosion was far from over.  On the ensuing first down play, Sterling got a 65-yard pass from Drew Nettleton to Kaedon Phillips to make it 21-17.  But Taylor ran it in from 8 yards out with just 0:19 until half to go to the break up 28-17.

Ducey connected on a 24-yard field goal and Warren ran 19 yards for a score to establish a commanding 38-17 lead in the 3^rd quarter, and Cooper added a 78-yard dash to the end zone in the 4^th.  Cooper finished with 139 yards, Warren with 79, each on 13 carries.  Taylor compiled 145 yards passing.

It’s Week 9 of our 11th high school football season. United Township (3-5) has an outside chance to make the playoffs but must first beat Galesburg. At 6-2, Moline might get a home playoff game with a win over Sterling. Rocky looks to repeat last year’s win over Geneseo and improve to 2-7 for the year. Here are the links for Friday’s 7:00 p.m. games:

United Township vs Galesburg
Moline vs Sterling
Rock Island vs Geneseo
Panthers presented by Van Hoe Funeral Home; Maroons presented by Sexton Ford; Rocks presented by Wheelan-Pressly

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This is the place for QCSportsNet’s live, local sports talk show featuring some of the biggest names in the history of Quad Cities sports media.  Our next show is this Wednesday (October 23rd) at 7:00 p.m., live from Riverfront Grille in Rock Island.

* IHSA Guru Steve Soucie updates UT’s chances of making the playoffs
* Greg Armstrong of View From The West joins as Co-Host
* We’ll talk live with Storm Captain Tommy Tsicos about his dramatic tying goal with 2:10 left in regulation of Saturday’s OT win over Peoria

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Here is the link to tonight’s live stream:
Storm Hockey